This paper draws on the arguments of the philosopher Wittgenstein to argue for altruism as changing in language games, rather than altruism as a hardened language game. I will introduce and examine the so-called "rule-following paradox" and "familial resemblance," which are often discussed in Wittgenstein's research, and confirm the "converging" and "diverging" nature of language games in the language practice of communication with others. It will be pointed out that the convergence/divergence overlaps with the moral/ethical distinction in altruism. Furthermore, it will be shown that the "hardening" or convergence of language games is the basis for the deviant and divergent use of language, and that the subject must first learn the typical language games employed by the language community. The typical language game of altruism is morality, which can certainly be catalogued, manualized, and listed in a public form. However, by confirming the accidental nature of gift-giving, which is considered to be a branch of altruism, it is shown that altruism as ethics cannot be foreseen.

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In this essay, the author examines the function of language in caregiving based on his recollections of his father's caregiving experiences, from a media researcher’s viewpoint. 　In the process of caring, a considerable amount of records were left, including detailed notes on father's condition, as well as notes to share information among the staff. From these records, we can see that language mainly served a "control" function, especially in the early stages of caregiving. Those were intended to control father's life as well as control care staff. Therein lies the author's unconscious desire for domination. 　However, such a desire was later transformed. The words in the notebook came to exhibit "mediating" features, instead of control. In addition, the whole process of care had turned into a sort of "media experience". The author examined this shift from "control" to "mediation," referring to Asa Ito and Roland Barthes. 　At the end, the author pointed out the characteristics of language in caregiving that cannot be recovered in the "control to mediation" scheme. Referring to psychiatrist Hisao Nakai's concept of "signs," the author discussed that the detailed notes were not only traces of his desire for control, but also an accumulation of "signs" perceived from his father's weakened life. Based on this understanding, language in caregiving can be considered to have functioned as a "medium" that connected the coming death with the present and the past. In other words, caregiving for the author had been a "media experience" in a double sense.

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　Recent dementia-related measures stipulate social inclusion for people with dementia. However, at this stage, their effects are limited and have not yet involved the general public. On the other hand, "The Restaurant of Order Mistakes" is attracting a lot of attention from various fields. 　The purpose of this paper is to obtain new knowledge about better social inclusion of people with dementia by investigating and analyzing The Restaurant of Order Mistakes. 　As a result of the survey, it was found that restaurants with wrong orders and derivative activities in each region function as a place for people with dementia who could not have independence until now to show their success in society. On the other hand, the efforts of The Restaurant of Order Mistakes are extraordinary events with limited time and place, so the gap between the "unusual" working at the restaurant and the "everyday" being cared for is dementia. The Chibaru Shokudo in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, found one answer to such a problem. Chibaru Shokudo is a permanent store that creates a place for people with dementia to work. People with dementia who work in the Chibaru cafeteria form their own place with their own hands as "professionals" who utilize their individuality and support the cafeteria through continuous work rather than temporary work. 　Until now, dementia-related measures have treated people with dementia as passive beings who receive care. On the other hand, the space of "The Restaurant of Order Mistakes" is established only when a person with dementia works as a hall staff. The position of the leading role in the space gives the dementia person who was placed outside the dementia care independence and draws out the hidden potential. The efforts of Chibaru Shokudo show that people with dementia have the power to play an active role not only in receiving care but also in the general society and in real life.

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　This paper aims to clarify the thought of Yanagi Muneyoshi (1889-1961) about the beauty of plain ware. 　Yanagi's collection in Japan Folk Crafts Museum contains a large number of objects with patterns, but he focused on plain ware (e.g. Ido tea bowls and old Tamba ware), when he taught "The Dharma Gate of Beauty" (esthetic based on Pure Land Buddhism) in his last years. In this study, I considered this point as a clue to clarify Yanagi's thought about plainness. 　According to Yanagi, first, plain ware is easy to use. Second, plain ware reflects the passivity of the craftsmen who left the rough surface of clay or kiln changes. From these considerations, it is clarified that Yanagi thought plain ware was the embodiment of the "no-mind" of the makers, who had accepted the unexpected other power (Tariki) - various contents and accidental deform of natural materials. According to Yanagi’s thought plain ware is the unselfish object that embodies the state of the ‘pure love’ that served others with ‘no-mind’ in our daily life.

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　Striptease, the performance of taking off one's clothes, was introduced to Japan in 1947 with an exhibition of tableaux vivant called "Gakubuchi (frame) Show". Since then, striptease has been widely called "strip" and has continued to the present. 　This paper clarifies the characteristics of early striptease in Japan, which has been called the "golden age" of "strip" in previous studies, and focuses on the critical practices of the time that mimicked striptease as burlesque to understand the gaze of the male audiences. 　According to the discourse in newspapers at that time, the stripteases that only showed nudity were subject to criticism. Besides, the shows with beautiful bodies, without obscenity, and with skillful composition and equipment were highly regarded, and they were thought to be "burlesque" especially by journalists. The word "burlesque" indicated their high regard for striptease, but what audiences liked was the explicit sexual expressions, and impresarios also needed those expressions to make a profit. 　This paper points out the possibility that calling striptease "burlesque" and aiming for "art" functioned to counteract the guilt of watching striptease and the pity for the strippers, and the reason why the male audiences went so far as to look at female bodies was that they needed to confirm their masculinity, which had been eliminated by the occupation. Furthermore, images of the U.S. were projected onto the bodies of the strippers, and the domination of such representations by the male gaze seems to be a means of overcoming defeat and reconstructing one’s masculinity.

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　This research focuses on Early Modern Europe, especially England, and analyzes the discourse on physical and sexual contacts between males. In England and other Christian countries, sexual contacts between males were named Sodomy and Buggery, which people considered as the symbolic act to revolt against God and God’s creation. Sodomy and Buggery were treated as one of felonies of the time because they would bring chaos to the society. In the field of art and literature of reproducing Greek and Roman classics, on the other hand, it was possible for artists and writers to describe the sexual contacts between males, particularly between a grown man and a young boy, as something poetic and beautiful. 　In today’s society, the words homosexuality and homophobia are placed at the very opposites: homosexuality as the love and desire between same-sex persons and homophobia as the hatred against it. However, in Early Modern Europe, the unpleasant words Sodomy/Buggery and the homoerotic representation in art were not placed in the opposites of the axis of same-sex relationship. Rather, this research analyzes that Sodomy/Buggery and the homoerotic representation share three characteristics: 1) they represent the pagan other and the foreign other, 2) the physical contacts are forced, and 3) the mixture of hatred and erotic desire for boys are presented. In conclusion, this research discusses that the Sodomy/Buggery and homoerotic images are not contradictions but different representations in the same field of same-sex desire.

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